capacity

[ kuh-pas-i-tee ]

/ kəˈpæs ɪ ti /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capacity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ca·pac·i·ties.

the ability to receive or contain: This hotel has a large capacity.

the maximum amount or number that can be received or contained; cubic contents; volume: The inn is filled to capacity. The gasoline tank has a capacity of 20 gallons.

power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability: the capacity to learn calculus.

actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand: He has a capacity for hard work. The capacity of the oil well was 150 barrels a day. She has the capacity to go two days without sleep.

quality or state of being susceptible to a given treatment or action: Steel has a high capacity to withstand pressure.

position; function; role: He served in the capacity of legal adviser.

legal qualification.

Electricity.

capacitance.
maximum possible output.

adjective

reaching maximum capacity: a capacity audience; a capacity crowd.

Nearby words

capacitation, capacitive, capacitive coupling, capacitive reactance, capacitor, capacity, capactin, capaneus, caparison, capataz, cape

Origin of capacity

1375–1425; late Middle English capacite < Middle French < Latin capācitāt- (stem of capācitās), equivalent to capāci-, stem of capāx roomy (cap(ere) to hold + -āci- adj. suffix) + -tāt- -ty²

SYNONYMS FOR capacity

2 dimensions, amplitude.

3 endowment, talent, gifts.

4 aptitude, adequacy, competence, capability.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capacity ON THESAURUS.COM

Can be confused

ability capacity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for capacity

Specifically, the pilots got themselves into a high altitude stall, where the wings lose the capacity to provide lift.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Foxx says that he thinks this generation has the capacity to keep pushing through racial barriers.
Jamie Foxx: Get Over the Black ‘Annie’|Stereo Williams|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
First up is the larger wash still, its capacity ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 liters.
When It Comes to Great Whisky, The Size of Your Still Matters||December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We are overwhelmed with data from every quarter, and our capacity to filter fact from fraud is limited.
The Facts About Ferguson Matter, Dammit|Doug McIntyre|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It was beyond the capacity of any human cryptologist to decipher the signals.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero|Clive Irving|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The truth is I haven't got it in me—the capacity to succeed.
The Fortune Hunter|Louis Joseph Vance
I never saw five other human beings with such a capacity for getting out of danger.
The Scouts of the Valley|Joseph A. Altsheler
There was an end of all his peace, all his capacity for labour, his patient endurance of penury.
New Grub Street|George Gissing
Persons who served as doorkeepers or in any other capacity received ten dollars each.
A Backward Glance at Eighty|Charles A. Murdock
She jeopardises her life immediately and she generally deteriorates her capacity for future usefulness.
Race Improvement : or, Eugenics : a Little Book on a Great Subject|La Reine Helen Baker

British Dictionary definitions for capacity

capacity

/ (kəˈpæsɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the ability or power to contain, absorb, or hold

the amount that can be contained; volumea capacity of six gallons

the maximum amount something can contain or absorb (esp in the phrase filled to capacity)
(as modifier)a capacity crowd

the ability to understand or learn; aptitude; capabilityhe has a great capacity for Greek

the ability to do or produce (often in the phrase at capacity)the factory's output was not at capacity

a specified position or functionhe was employed in the capacity of manager

a measure of the electrical output of a piece of apparatus such as a motor, generator, or accumulator

electronics a former name for capacitance

computing

the number of words or characters that can be stored in a particular storage device
the range of numbers that can be processed in a register

the bit rate that a communication channel or other system can carry

legal competencethe capacity to make a will

Word Origin for capacity

C15: from Old French capacite, from Latin capācitās, from capāx spacious, from capere to take

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for capacity

capacity

[ kə-păs′ĭ-tē ]

n.

The measure of potential cubic contents of a cavity or receptacle; volume.

Ability to perform or produce; capability.